TC.2 1 Tim 4:6-10

Intro: Believe it or not I think we have something to learn from male gymnasts. Not all of them but specifically Keiran Behan - at 10 years old Keiran had a cancerous tumor removed from his thigh and surgery went so poorly that he was told he would never walk again. Yet through hard-work, practice and discipline EVERY day he was up and walking and back in the gym UNTIL he slipped and suffered a major brain injury that took him out for another 3 years. After another long road to recovery he got back in the gym, qualified for the European championship and snapped his knee AND WAS READY TO QUIT.

Yet even when he didn’t feel like it, when he didn’t have motivation, he disciplined himself to wake up, and work hard until finally becoming a world champion and olympic athlete. His story is a great example of the power of discipline. Now if that much discipline was required for a previously injured athlete to return to competition HOW MUCH MORE discipline is required for previously dead sinners to be GODLY servants of Christ.

NEED

What about you? Are you disciplined for godliness?

Maybe like me you can deceive yourself into thinking that being involved in ministry and signed up for TC means you WILL become godly

But Paul doesn’t say serve or sign up He says DISCIPLINE

So what does your time in the word look like?

What do you spend your time thinking about?

What is your leisure time used for?

Transition: Paul addresses this very thing in 1 Tim 4:6-10 and the purpose of the passage and our time together can be boiled down to this…

Prop: ONE THING YOU REMEMBER - If you want to be a good servant then discipline yourself for godliness.

To discipline yourself for godliness, YOU MUST...

1. Feed on truth (v.6)

Can you feel Pauls optimism for Timothy here?

He says you will be a good servant of Christ by pointing out “these things” referring to the immediately preceding verses that state: Christ is supreme (3:15) False teachers are about (4:1-3) and God goodness displayed in creation (4:4-5)

Paul says in pointing those things out to the brethren you will be a good servant and why does he say this confidently? Because He knows what fuels Timothy and drives his ministry… HIS NOURISHMENT ON THE WORD (v.6b)

How can pour into others if we are not filled up ourselves?

We can not feed people with the word if we ourselves aren't daily nourishing on it

The good servant of God must feed on the word AND DISCIPLINE HIMSELF TO DO SO

A dentist I am friends of friends with a while back was diagnosed with STAGE 3 cancer. The doctor said we need to do intense chemo treatment NOW!

The dentist friend didn’t like that option, he wanted to still enjoy hislife and keep his hair, so he went to the internet and looked up “natural cures for cancer” a highly popular one was carrots

I kid you not he CHANGED his diet from junk food to juiced carrots EVERY SINGLE DAY

Not because he craved carrots every morning but he saw the absolute necessity for them and disciplined himself to do so.

It was so intense his eyes had an orange tint to them

After a year of the diet he went back to the doctor and the cancer was gone and he is alive today to tell the story.

We need to have discipline in our spiritual diet, worship songs and 5 min podcasts will not cut it - we need to follow our lords example and rise early to pray and drink deeply from the Word.

How will you discipline yourself to be nourished by the word?

Alarm clocks?

Accountability partners?

Reading plans

Discipline yourself to feed on the word  Because Good servants must do so

2. Forget the temporal (v.7-8)

We must not just have discipline in our spiritual diet but also in what we give attention to

Worldy fables = old wives tales, godless myths

Pauls language here contrasts the words of faith and sound doctrine in verse 6 to the worldly fables

Some ideas or proposals are so far beyond plausible that a pastors and leaders have no time or business giving them the dignity of extensive attention.

Most of us don’t believe the old wives tales of today, like

thumb sucking causes buck teeth

Chicken soup has healing properties

OR that you can’t swim after eating

Or at least I hope you don’t because those are completely untrue

But how many of us give to much attention to the obviously untrue conspiracy theories and even worse waste time in our discipleship relationships and fellowship opportunities talking about the way a vaccine makes your arm magnetic

Or that aliens are out there

Or that we never went to the moon

OR WORST OF ALL THE EARTH IS FLAT

No we must not be caught up in worthless myths because we have eternal truth to dive into, because we have goldiness to strive after

or for that matter pauls moves from Old Women chatter to Athletic ability in v. 8 READ

Even exercise (which is universally accepted as good and profitable) DOES NOT EVEN COMPARE to the goal we have of godliness

Because muscles are hear one day and gone the next BUT godliness holds promises for today and for forever

Disciplining ourselves to live goldy has benefits that are obvious in this life just like exercise

But even more so in the life to come, we have a crown of righteousness awaiting us on the other side, we have a judgment coming of all our works

And only those done on the foundation of Christ will stand - Godliness canot be separated from God himself

So forget the temporal things, how can you not on the backdrop of eternal things

Daily set your mind on the things above

Don’t waste your life

Satan would like nothing better than to make you a useless leader, although he cannot steal your salvation - he can distract you and leave you wondering where the time went

Stop talking WK2K and start talking WWJD

3. Fix your hope

Paul gives the command to discipline himself VERSE 7, He gives reason for the command in V. 8, He confirms that truth in v. 9 AND then encourages Timothy that he is not alone in the difficult and rigorous process because in v. 10 IT IS FOR THIS WE labor and strive.

Paul isn’t calling Timothy to anything he himself is not doing

They are both giving everything theyve got, they are in ALL OUT EFFORT in their mission.

Ministry is hard, though we may not be called as church planters in ephesus we are all called to walk in the good works God has prepared for us.

It is not always an easy walk but a tiring one

We know we must feed on the truth every day, we know we must forget the temporal things that distract us BUT we often fail, we often succeed in going through the motions but even then see no fruit because our heart is disengaged

Well Paul closes out this passage with a reminder

That ultimately if we want any chance of disciplining ourselves for Godliness we need to fix our hope on the God who provides it

Because He is the living God, He is the creator and active sustainer of the universe,

He is the judge and the redeemer

He is our hope in life in death, he is our only hope in salvation, sanctification and service

Our discipline and our efforts are meaningless if not directly attached to and motivated by the the hope we have in God.

We have no reason to read the word if we can’t understand it AND we cn only undertaned it if HE illumines it for us

We have no reason to pray if he isn’t listening

We have no reason to focus on eternity if ours isn’t secured with him

But we know that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, that Gods kindess led us to repentnace, that he granted us faith, that he called and awakened and regenerated us SO THAT we have hope in our efforts because we know that they are fueled by Him.

So fix your hope on Him and him alone

Conclusion:

In conclusion I’d like you recognize the race you are in and see the finish line, see the goal. It is not a trophy or a pedestal BUT J.I. Packer puts it this way “What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance, and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?”

When we recognize how great our goal is, we are compelled to discipline ourselves for the purpose of Godliness by Feeding on truth, forgetting the temporal and fixing our hope.

Some take-aways for you:

What is your spiritual appetite? Are you hungry for the word of God, do you crave it?

Ask God to first give you a desire for His word, and then dedicate a regular time where you engage Him in His word and commune with him.

Read His word in order to know him more, not check the list.

A good leader doesn’t call people to do what he doesn’t

Do not call people to pursue the Lord when you aren’t yourself

What do you give attention to?

If I were given a report on you and a non believer about:

The shows you watch

The things you listen to

The conversations you have

The leisure time you spend

Would there be an obvious difference. Are your efforts in life focused on eternal matters or things that will burn in the last days?

Dont waste your life

Where is your hope?

If your hope and motivation is not in the Living God but rather in your bible knowledge, your christian upbringing, your aisle walking and guided prayer you don’t remember from years ago, a TC diploma than I’d encourage you to TURN and recognize that those things are not the ultimate hope BUT a relationship with Jesus Christ is

And that can only be found by placing your faith in Him and his work and by repenting of your sin.